Celebrating ancient art with modern brushstrokes

Chinese calligraphy is an ancient art of writing Chinese characters.

It is one of the cores of Chinese culture. Throughout the ages, calligraphers have created works that reveal to the world the charm of this ancient art form.

Exuding an artistic charm, Chinese calligraphy has been described as a poem without words, a dance without lines, a painting without pictures, and music without sound.

"Prime of Life," an exhibition currently underway at Jiushi Art Salon, brings together 11 young calligraphers from all over the country who are influential and accomplished in the art genre. All of the participating calligraphers have been nominated for or have won the Lanting Award, the highest award for calligraphy in the country.

The works on display reveal the young artists' new thinking, new techniques and new perspective, carrying forward the connotations of Chinese traditional culture.

According to the organizer, the exhibition not only aims to focus on the development of young calligraphers and their work, but also on the future of calligraphy.

Different from the calligraphy presented on scrolls, most of the works are placed on exhibition panels or framed in boxes, to add a modern flavor to the ancient art genre.

For example, Fei Yinbin's work "The Seal of Rong Hall," uses seal carving as the main body and calligraphy to reflect the seal style. In fact, seal-cutting and calligraphy are always considered as a pair. Fei's creative idea is to integrate calligraphy and seal carving into a single screen.

Another impressive work is Wang Xi's calligraphy of "Xiao Chong Shan" written by Yue Fei (1103-1142), a Song Dynasty (960-1279) military general. The work is both heavy and clumsy in tone, yet also graceful and elegant, combining the rigidity of the Northern Dynasty (AD 386-581) inscription with the tenderness of the literati style on the rice paper.

As the writing unfolds, the variations in the size of the characters blend with the meaning of the words and the calligrapher's current state of mind, rendering a natural flow that unites the visuality and readability of the work.

Exhibition info:

Date: Through June 13, 10:30am-6:30pm

Admission: Free

Venue: Jiushi Art Salon

Address: 230 Beijing Rd E.

北京东路230号